


NyQuil for Hannibal

by cinderchild



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Caretaking, Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 15:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2274216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderchild/pseuds/cinderchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannibal gets sick. Hannibal hates being weak. Will Graham insists on caring for Hannibal. Hannibal hates it. Sort of. S1, in the Franklyn era.</p>
            </blockquote>





	NyQuil for Hannibal

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress. Please feel free to leave feedback. Also rating may change as story progresses.

It begins with a tickle in the back of his throat. Hannibal wakes up in the morning, mouth a little drier than usual, and feels it: the oncoming illness. He adds additional vitamin C to his morning routine, along with some acidophilus and an additional cup of green tea. 

Listening to Franklyn was always a chore, but this afternoon Hannibal was finding it even harder than usual to feign interest and perception for his needy client; the room seemed warmer and stuffier than usual, he found he was continuously tugging at his silk tie, and felt as though cotton were stuffed in his ears, nose and throat. He felt fortunate that listening to Franklyn was nearly the last chore of the day and then he could go home. A knock at his patient door, while finishing up his chart notes for the day, told him he was wrong. With a heavy sigh, Hannibal rose from his chair and crossed the room, passing over the expensive, thick, imported rug. 

Opening the door, Hannibal was mildly surprised to find Will standing there, fidgeting. “Hello, Will” Hannibal began, “Please, come in.” He stood aside and let Will pass by, following him into his office. Will meandered about the office for a moment, touching sculptures, looking at paintings, running his fingers along the glossy wood of the desk. Hannibal began to clear his throat to start talking, but erupted in a coughing fit instead, eventually having to sit down. 

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Will asked

“I’m feeling… a little under the weather, yes.” 

“I didn’t know, you should get home, you need rest.”

“No, Will, I’m fine. Really. If you need to talk, or –“ another coughing spasm cut him off. 

Concerned, Will came over to the chair, awkwardly placing a hand on Hannibal’s shoulder until the coughing ended. “I’ll get some water for you from the waiting room, I’ll be right back.” Will turned to leave the office but Hannibal stopped him.

“Will, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, there is really no need to.”

Will was already at the door, however, he’d begun walking again as soon as Hannibal started protesting being taken care of. He returned with a cup of water. As he handed the cup to Hannibal, their hands brushed.

“Hannibal, I think you are actually running a fever.” Before he could stop to think about it, and before Hannibal could protest, Will’s hand was on his forehead, gauging his temperature. “You definitely have a fever. Come on, I’ll drive you home. I don’t think you should be driving when you are running a fever.”

“Will, I can drive myself.”

“I’m sure you can” Will stated, gathering up Hannibal’s coat, shaking it and hearing the keys jangle in the pocket “but I’m not letting you.” He pulled the keys from the pocket and held the coat out for Hannibal. Hannibal, for his part, resigned himself to letting Will drive him home and allowed Will to hold his coat while he shrugged into it.  
\-----  
Standing in Hannibal’s kitchen, Will watched as Hannibal put water on for tea. After the stove was on, Hannibal turned to Will.  
“Why don’t you stay for some tea, and I will call you a cab.” 

Will frowned, but nodded.  
“I’m just going to get out of my suit, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Will listened to Hannibal’s heavy footsteps as they ascended up the stairs, heard them pause, then heard a loud thud, followed by several not as loud thuds.  
“Hannibal!” Will shouted as he ran towards the stairs, only to find the doctor collapsed at the bottom of the stairs. “Hannibal! Hannibal, can you hear me?” Will shook him gently, checking for a pulse, broken bones, breathing – obvious signs of serious trauma. After a moment, Hannibal opened his eyes. 

“Will?” Hannibal said weakly “What…?” He started to get up but Will held him down gently. 

“Hannibal, I think maybe you should just sit here and rest for a moment. You fell down the stairs.”

“I became dizzy, then I must have experience syncope. I’m fine, nothing feels broken. Perhaps I will just go upstairs and get into bed; please, feel free to avail yourself of my telephone to call a cab.” He refused to let Will keep him down this time, but once on his feet he was grateful for the man’s presence; he felt the dizziness start to return and leaned against Will. 

“I’ll help you up to bed then.”

Normally, Hannibal Lecter would not let someone help him to bed, but he did not like the idea of fainting and falling down the stairs again. He would not, however, suffer the indignity of allowing Will to actually put him to bed. Instead, Will went about the much more embarrassing task of insisting upon bringing Hannibal tea in bed, along with a handful of vitamins and supplements. 

“No, really Will. You do not have to stay, I will be fine. It was good of you to bring me tea –coughing fit – but what I really just need is some rest. I will be fine.”

Will lets out a snort in responce. “Hannibal, you are running a fever of 102. You’ve already passed out. I’m going to stay in your guest room until the fever goes down, because I do not want you falling down the stairs again.”

“I’ll be fine in the morning, Will, I just need some sleep” Hannibal said pointedly, rearranging himself in a sleeping pose. 

“Not until you’ve had the soup I’m making.”

Hannibal inwardly groaned as Will disappeared back down to the kitchen. On the plus side, he didn’t have to worry about canned soup or any kind of instant abomination he was certain he’d have to endure had he fell ill elsewhere; on the minus side, he couldn’t get Will to leave. Being at the mercy of another person was not something Hannibal was accustomed to, much less something he was comfortable with. 

He was dozing when Will came back into the room, but woke to the sound of footsteps across the bedroom floor. 

“Here” Will said, matter-of-factly, setting the tray on Hannibal. 

“Thank you, Will. Really, this is enough. You don’t have to stay.” The sentence was punctuated by a sneeze that turned into another coughing fit.

“Do you have any cough medicine?”

“I do not.”

“You’re not going to be able to sleep if you keep coughing like that. I’ll run out and get some.”

Hannibal sighed. He knew that arguing with Will about this wouldn’t get him anywhere, so he resigned himself to Will taking care of him. For the moment. He secretly liked the idea of cough medicine, trying to sleep and being woken every 5 minutes was not his idea of a good night’s sleep. Besides, he rationalised it that if he were able to get good sleep he would feel better in the morning and be able to convince Will his doting was no longer necessary. 

As he was finishing the last of his soup, which was surprisingly better than he thought Will was capable of, he heard the man coming back up the stairs. 

“Ok so I got cough medicine, cold medicine, zinc, echinacea, and a combo pill of garlic and ginseng.”

“Will this is all completely –“

“I’ll be back up with some more tea in a minute so you can take the medicine” Will interrupted, ignoring Hannibal’s protests. He gathered up Hannibal’s dishes and disappeared  
back down the stairs again. 

Hannibal sighed and tipped back a capful of both the cold medicine and the cough medicine. 

“All right, here we go” Will came back with the tea “green tea is supposed to have all kinds of antioxidants to help boost the immune system.” 

Hannibal smiled emptily up at Will, but accepted the cup gratefully. 

Will sat on the edge of the bed, watching Hannibal drink his tea. 

“Why did you come by the office, Will?”


End file.
